225th Monthly Edition September 2024 - Overview Of Rental Laws

Good morning Fellow Members,

Update from RTA Rental Tenancies Authority that you need to be aware.

Rental law changes from 30 September 2024 include:

• Maximum bond amount - capped at no more than 4 times the weekly rent amount.
• Reletting costs - calculated on the time remaining on an agreement (where an agreement is greater than 3 years). For agreements up to 3 years, it's the lower amount of the specified reletting costs or the rent until a new tenant moves in. Use our new reletting costs calculator to help provide an estimate of possible reletting costs.
• Rent payments - tenants must be offered 2 ways to pay rent, including a way that does not incur more than usual bank costs and is reasonably available to a tenant.
• Utility bills - tenants must receive utility bills within a 4-week timeframe, otherwise the tenant does not need to pay.
• Evidence for bond claims - when making a bond claim or disputing a bond, a property manager/owner must provide a tenant with supporting evidence within 14 days of lodging a claim or dispute. This applies to bonds lodged with the RTA after 30 September 2024, with new penalties for non-compliance. For bonds lodged with the RTA before 30 September 2024, a 12-month transitional period from 30 September 2024 applies, allowing the sector to prepare for this change.
• False and misleading information - it is an offence for anyone involved in a tenancy to provide false or misleading information to the RTA and penalties apply.
• Information sharing - new abilities for the RTA to share information with other government agencies and departments to drive greater compliance and enforcement outcomes for the sector.

For more information visit the RTA’s rental law changes webpage for the full list of changes, and a comprehensive list of FAQs.

We strongly encourage tenants and property managers/owners to subscribe to RTA News to stay up to date.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about these important changes. If you have any questions about these changes or for general tenancy information, please visit rta.qld.gov.au.

Until next time, Stay Healthy, Wealthy & Wise!!!

Kindest regards,
John